Software Testing
(Basics)
CSE412 – Software Engineering
Instructor
Dr. Shamim H Ripon
CSE, EWU
Testing
• Testing is the process of evaluating a system or its component(s) with
the intent to find whether it satisfies the specified requirements or
not.
• Testing is executing a system in order to identify any gaps, errors, or
missing requirements in contrary to the actual requirements.
• According to ANSI/IEEE 1059 standard, Testing can be defined as - A
process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences
between existing and required conditions (that is defects/errors/bugs)
and to evaluate the features of the software item
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Who does Testing?
• Depends on the process and the associated stakeholders of the project
• In the IT industry, large companies have a team with responsibilities to evaluate the
developed software in context of the given requirements.
• Developers also conduct testing which is called Unit Testing
• Following professionals are involved in testing a system within their respective
capacities:
• Software Tester
• Software Developer
• Project Lead/Manager
• End User
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When to Start Testing?
• An early start to testing reduces the cost and time to rework and produce error-free
software that is delivered to the client.
• In Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), testing can be started from the
Requirements Gathering phase and continued till the deployment of the software.
• Testing is done in different forms at every phase of SDLC:
• During the requirement gathering phase, the analysis and verification of requirements are
also considered as testing.
• Reviewing the design in the design phase with the intent to improve the design is also
considered as testing.
• Testing performed by a developer on completion of the code is also categorized as testing.
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When to Stop Testing?
• It is difficult to determine when to stop testing, as testing is a never-
ending process and no one can claim that a software is 100% tested.
• The following aspects are to be considered for stopping the testing
process:
• Testing Deadlines
• Completion of test case execution
• Completion of functional and code coverage to a certain point
• Bug rate falls below a certain level and no high-priority bugs are identified
• Management decision
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Types of Testing
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Manual Testing
• Manual testing includes testing a software manually, i.e., without using any
automated tool or any script.
• the tester takes over the role of an end-user and tests the software to identify any
unexpected behavior or bug.
• There are different stages for manual testing such as unit testing, integration testing,
system testing, and user acceptance testing.
• Testers use test plans, test cases, or test scenarios to test a software to ensure the
completeness of testing.
• Manual testing also includes exploratory testing, as testers explore the software to
identify errors in it.
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Automation Testing
• Automation testing, which is also known as Test
Automation, is when the tester writes scripts and
uses another software to test the product.
• This process involves automation of a manual
process. Automation Testing is used to re-run the
test scenarios that were performed manually,
quickly, and repeatedly.
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Software Testing - Methods
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Black-Box Testing
• The technique of testing without having any knowledge of the interior workings of
the application is called black- box testing.
• The tester is oblivious to the system architecture and does not have access to the
source code.
• While performing a black-box test, a tester will interact with the system's user
interface by providing inputs and examining outputs without knowing how and where
the inputs are worked upon.
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Black-Box Testing
Advantages Disadvantages
• Well suited and efficient for large code • Limited coverage, since only a selected
segments. number of test scenarios is actually
performed.
• Code access is not required.
• Clearly separates user's perspective from • Inefficient testing, due to the fact that the
tester only has limited knowledge about an
the developer's perspective through visibly
application.
defined roles.
• Large numbers of moderately skilled testers • Blind coverage, since the tester cannot
target specific code segments or error-prone
can test the application with no knowledge
areas.
of implementation, programming language,
or operating systems. • The test cases are difficult to design.
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White-Box Testing
• White-box testing is the detailed investigation of internal logic and structure of the
code. White-box testing is also called glass testing or open-box testing.
• To perform white-box testing on an application, a tester needs to know the internal
workings of the code.
• The tester needs to have a look inside the source code and find out which unit/chunk
of the code is behaving inappropriately.
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White-Box Testing
Advantages Disadvantages
• As the tester has knowledge of the source • Because a skilled tester is needed to
code, it becomes very easy to find out which perform white-box testing, the costs are
type of data can help in testing the increased.
application effectively.
• Sometimes it is impossible to look into every
• It helps in optimizing the code. nook and corner to find out hidden errors
that may create problems, as many paths
• Extra lines of code can be removed which
will go untested.
can bring in hidden defects.
• Due to the tester's knowledge about the • It is difficult to maintain white-box testing,
as it requires specialized tools like code
code, maximum coverage is attained during
analyzers and debugging tools.
test scenario writing.
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Grey-Box Testing
• Grey-box testing is a technique to test the application with having a limited
knowledge of the internal workings of an application.
• In software testing, the phrase the more you know, the better carries a lot of weight
while testing an application.
• Mastering the domain of a system always gives the tester an edge over someone with
limited domain knowledge.
• Unlike black-box testing, where the tester only tests the application's user interface;
in grey-box testing, the tester has access to design documents and the database.
Having this knowledge, a tester can prepare better test data and test scenarios while
making a test plan.
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Grey-Box Testing
Advantages Disadvantages
• Offers combined benefits of black-box and • Since the access to source code is not
white-box testing wherever possible. available, the ability to go over the code
and test coverage is limited.
• Grey box testers don't rely on the source
code; instead, they rely on interface • The tests can be redundant if the software
definition and functional specifications. designer has already run a test case.
• Based on the limited information available, • Testing every possible input stream is
a grey-box tester can design excellent test unrealistic because it would take an
scenarios especially around communication unreasonable amount of time; therefore,
protocols and data type handling. many program paths will go untested.
• The test is done from the point of view of
the user and not the designer.
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Unit Testing
• This type of testing is performed by developers before the setup is handed over to
the testing team to formally execute the test cases.
• Unit testing is performed by the respective developers on the individual units of
source code assigned areas.
• The developers use test data that is different from the test data of the quality
assurance team.
• The goal of unit testing is to isolate each part of the program and show that
individual parts are correct in terms of requirements and functionality.
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Unit Testing
Limitations of Unit Testing
• Testing cannot catch each and every bug in an application. It is impossible to
evaluate every execution path in every software application. The same is the case
with unit testing.
• There is a limit to the number of scenarios and test data that a developer can use to
verify a source code. After having exhausted all the options, there is no choice but to
stop unit testing and merge the code segment with other units.
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Integration Testing
• Integration testing is defined as the testing
of combined parts of an application to
determine if they function correctly.
• Integration testing can be done in two
ways: Bottom-up integration testing and
Top-down integration testing.
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System Testing
• System testing tests the system as a whole. Once all the components are integrated,
the application as a whole is tested rigorously to see that it meets the specified
Quality Standards. This type of testing is performed by a specialized testing team.
• System testing is important because of the following reasons:
• System testing is the first step in the Software Development Life Cycle, where the
application is tested as a whole.
• The application is tested thoroughly to verify that it meets the functional and technical
specifications.
• The application is tested in an environment that is very close to the production
environment where the application will be deployed.
• System testing enables us to test, verify, and validate both the business requirements as
well as the application architecture.
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